We continue to delve into the hallmarks of Southeast Asian personal care formulations, and their potential in the near future with Kunal Mahajan, Project Manager for Chemicals and Energy at Kline.

1. How do personal care ingredient choices in Southeast Asia differ from those in the rest of the world?​

One major difference between the Southeast Asian market and the rest of the world, especially the US and Europe, is the low demand for active ingredients for personal care formulations, as awareness remains low in Southeast Asia.

In terms of functional ingredients, the trend towards natural and safe ingredients is quite strong in the developed markets compared to Southeast Asia, again because of low awareness in Southeast Asia.

For example, antimicrobials such as parabens and DMDM Hydantoin continue to grow in Southeast Asia while their consumption is declining in the US. The growth of these antimicrobials is also much higher in Southeast Asia compared to the European market.

2. Which Southeast Asian countries are proving formidable in creating innovations in the personal care industry?​

Indonesia is the fastest growing personal care market in terms of new product launches taking place. In Indonesia, growth is mainly driven by halal certified products as well as men’s grooming products.

The Philippines is another market to watch out for as a large portion of the population is below the age of 20 years. It is expected that this market will provide strong growth in the future.

3. What are the drivers behind emerging ingredients?​

In Southeast Asia, there is a growing demand for skin whitening products as well as an increase in the preference for natural ingredient based personal care products. The demand for skin whitening stems more from countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam.

Essentially, it is mainly the combination of a young population, growing awareness levels, and development of personal care products such as halal cosmetics that is leading to growth and the rising usage of new ingredients.

4. How can we expect to see this change throughout 2017 and into 2018?​

Some of the trends mentioned earlier are expected to become much stronger in Southeast Asia over the next 1-2 years.

There will be a greater push towards natural ingredients as well as halal-certified cosmetic ingredients.